Developed a method of studying proteomics of an important soilborne fungal plant pathogen Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 to investigate its biology and pathology and identified several pathogenicity-associate R. solani genes through Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) analysis.

2000. Strauss, E.E., Lakshman, D.K., and Tavantzis, S.M. Molecular characterization of the genome of a partitivirus from the basidiomycete Rhizoctonia solani. Journal of General Virology 81: 549-555.

1998. Lakshman, D.K., Jian, J. and Tavantzis, S.M. A double-stranded RNA element from a hypovirulent strain of Rhizoctonia solani occurs in DNA form and is genetically related to the pentafunctional AROM protein of the shikimate pathway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 95: 6425-6429.